Computer system chipsets typically include one are more components that are implemented to provide an interface to input/output (I/O) devices within the computer system. Such devices include a network controller, a hard disk drive, one or memory devices, etc. coupled to the chipset via various types of interfaces.
One interface used to couple I/O devices to the chipset is a serial peripheral interface (SPI). The SPI is an interface that enables the full duplex, serial exchange of data between two devices, a master and a slave. However, a problem with the SPI is that only one master/slave pair may be coupled. Therefore, if a device (e.g., a flash memory device) is coupled to the chipset via SPI, all accesses to the flash memory device must be through the chipset.